Pensions Board prosecutes Dunnes scheme trustees

The Pensions Board today successfully prosecuted the trustees of an occupational pension scheme over their failure to provide timely information on the scheme to the Board.

The trustees of Dunnes Stores Pension and Life Assurance Scheme, failed, pursuant to Section 54 of the Pensions Act, 1990, to furnish the Board, within specified time limits, with copies of certain documents including its Annual Report relating to the scheme.

The Pensions Board, as part of its regulatory role, monitors trustees, who must account to members for how their scheme is run by providing them with a wide range of personal and scheme information as required by the Pensions Act.

Commenting on the prosecutions, chief executive officer of the Pensions Board, Anne Maher said: “The disclosure of information in a timely manner enables scheme members to monitor their benefits and the financial soundness of their pension schemes.

"The Board regards information disclosure as a very important governance requirement for pension schemes and takes steps to enforce this obligation where necessary”.

The Trustees of Dunnes Stores Pension and Life Assurance Scheme responded: “The information requested by the Pensions Board was prepared and available but due to a clerical oversight was not provided to the Pensions Board in a timely manner. The District Court accepted that this was an oversight and imposed a nominal €250 fine.”